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CU System

Hit man at CU gets death sentence

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (12/8/09)--A hired hit man convicted in July of the murder of a naval officer outside a Virginia credit union in 2007 was given the death sentence Friday in U.S. District Court. In July, a U.S. District Court jury ruled that David A. Runyon, 37, met the criteria to be considered for execution for his role in the April 2007 shooting death of Navy Communications officer Cory Allen Voss, 30, which took place outside a Langley FCU ATM in Newport News. The murder was designed to look like a random robbery that went awry, authorities said (Daily Press July 23). In August, the same jury that found Runyon guilty also recommended he receive the death penalty. When U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Beach Smith asked Runyon--a former police officer and U.S. Army soldier--if he wanted to say anything before she handed down the sentence, he answered, “No, Ma’am” (Daily Press Dec. 5). Last year, Voss' wife, Catherine Ann Voss, pleaded guilty to masterminding the plot so she could be with her boyfriend and collect roughly $500,000 in Voss' death benefits. In November, she was sentenced to four life terms (News Now July 24). Police say surveillance footage shows Runyon holding Voss at gunpoint. Voss went to the ATM at about 11 p.m. April 29. His wife reported him missing the next morning, and police found his body in the driver's seat of his pickup truck (News Now Dec. 18). A man convicted of being an accomplice in the murder of Voss was sentenced in November to three life terms in prison. Michael A. Draven, 29, was sentenced Nov. 17 in federal court in Virginia, after being found guilty July 17 of conspiracy to commit murder for hire, carjacking resulting in death, and murder with a firearm in relation to a crime of violence (States New Service Nov. 17).